ASSOCIATION BETWEEN RURAL HOSPITALS RESIDENCIES AND RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF PHYSICIANS

Purpose. To analyze the association between rural hospitals' participa tion in residency training and their subsequent success in physician r ecruitment and retention. Method. The units of observation were 1,789 short-term, general hospitals that were located in nonmetropolitan U.S . counties, had medical staff information available, and did not close , open, or merge from 1985 through 1989. Multivariate analysis was don e using ordinary least-squares estimation. The dependent variable was the change in the size of the medical staff at each hospital. Several characteristics of the hospitals and their counties were used as indep endent variables, the primary one being the number of housestaff at ea ch hospital in 1985. Results. The 66 rural hospitals that invested in housestaff were found to be more successful in physician recruitment a nd retention in subsequent years. On average, for every eight housesta ff in 1985, each hospital gained approximately one additional physicia n on its medical staff from 1985 through 1989. Conclusion. The rural h ospitals with residencies were more likely to be successful at recruit ing and retaining physician staff than were the hospitals without resi dencies. Because most of the residencies were probably in primary care specialties, this finding is suggestive in light of the national need for primary care training as well as for successful recruiting strate gies for rural hospitals.